aluminium show | Kunming University of Science and Technology research team in the high strength and high conductivity heat-resistant aluminium alloy research has made important progress

Recently, Kunming University of Science and Technology (KUST) has made significant progress in the research of high-strength, high-conductivity and heat-resistant aluminium alloys with the cooperation of Zhenhua Li's team from Kunming University of Science and Technology (KUST), the State Joint Engineering Research Centre for Advanced Solidification and Forming of Metals and Equipment Technology, the National Experiment and Teaching Demonstration Centre for Engineering Training, and the Light Metals Additive Manufacturing Research Centre of Yunnan Province, as well as with the team of Ma Chaoli and Xiao Wenlong from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Yunnan is rich in aluminium resources, and the green aluminium industry has been developing rapidly in recent years. High-strength, high-conductivity and heat-resistant aluminium alloy is a key basic material for overhead transmission line cables, with a market scale of more than one trillion yuan. With the development of ultra-high voltage, long-distance, large-capacity power transmission and clean energy use, higher requirements have been put forward for the conductivity, strength and heat resistance of overhead conductors. However, there is a contradiction between enhancing the electrical conductivity of materials and improving the strength and heat resistance.Al-Zr-Sc alloys have outstanding strength, electrical conductivity, and heat resistance properties, and have a broad application prospect. Elucidating the effects of processing paths on the microstructure and properties of Al-Zr-Sc alloys is crucial to overcome the contradiction between increasing the electrical conductivity of materials and improving their strength and heat resistance, and to improve the properties of the alloys. This study systematically investigated the effects of processing paths on the microstructure and properties of Al-Zr-Sc alloys, and obtained quantitative relationships between the effects of various process steps on the alloy's organisation, strength and electrical conductivity. The results show that the Al-Zr-Sc alloy wire with well-matched strength, electrical conductivity and heat resistance can be obtained through the fast solidification-thermal deformation-ageing-cold-drawing path by making full use of fine-grain strengthening, Al3(Zr,Sc) phase precipitation strengthening and dislocation strengthening, and dynamic precipitation of Sc atoms in the process of thermal deformation.

According to the aluminium show, the team in Yunnan Aluminium Zexin Company and Kunming Cable Co., Ltd. to carry out pilot tests, successfully prepared conductivity 61.1% IACS, tensile strength of 161MPa, elongation rate of 5.6%, heat resistance 280 ° C / 1h strength of the residual rate of 96% of the high-strength, high-conductivity, heat-resistant aluminium alloy conductor tens of thousands of meters and through the third-party authoritative testing! The finished cable was prepared to further enhance the deep processing capability of Yunnan green aluminium industry.